Japanese Federation of Labour

The Japanese Federation of Labour (日本労働組合総同盟, Nihon Rōdō Kumiai Sōdōmei), or Sōdōmei for short, was a national trade union federation in Japan during the early post-World War II era. Re-established in 1946 based on its pre-war predecessor founded in 1919, Sōdōmei represented the cooperative wing of the Japanese labor movement. In contrast to more radical federations, Sōdōmei's ideology was built on accepting the framework of a capitalist society and seeking to defend workers' interests through negotiation and partnership with management, a model that resembled the mainstream unionism of the United States. From its inception, it was dominated by the Japan Socialist Party.

Despite its cooperative philosophy, Sōdōmei was not passive and engaged in militant tactics when it deemed them necessary. It played a central role in the major labor conflicts and initiatives of the immediate post-war years, including the planned 1947 general strike and the creation of the Economic Recovery Council. With the support of the occupation authorities, it sponsored the creation of anti-communist Democratization Leagues (Mindo) to counter leftist influence in rival unions. Following the rise of the more confrontational Sōhyō federation in 1950, Sōdōmei became a leading force on the "right wing" of the labor movement, aligning with US-backed anti-communist initiatives like the Japan Productivity Center. The traditions and political alignment of Sōdōmei were later inherited by the Dōmei federation, and its cooperative principles, though initially a minority view, became foundational to the system of enterprise unionism that would dominate Japan in the following decades.